FaceBook Send – Like it or Hate it?

Earlier this week Facebook announced the release of the Facebook Send button. The send button allows readers to send content directly to their friends via email. Per the Facebook announcement,”People will have the option to send your URL in an inbox message to their Facebook friends, to the group wall of any Facebook group they are a member of, and as an email to any email address.” Unlike Facebook Like, which allows users to share your content with all of their friends, the send button is laser-targeted based on selecting specific email addresses. Here is a screen shot of how it works:

The question worth asking is “so what?” What’s the value?

At first glance, the Facebook Send button seems to further confuse readers by giving even more options for sharing content (and places further burden on websites to offer all of the various sharing features!). From a user’s perspective, it would help direct relevant content to friends and associates who are related to the topic like sending Search Marketing Standard to your marketing friends and not your mom, dad, and relatives. On the flip side, a marketer benefits since any sharing is better than no sharing and higher relevancy to the audience could mean higher engagement with the content even if it’s just 2 versus 2,000 people.

What do you think about the new Facebook Send feature? Like it or hate it?